Inmate Hospitalized Day After Sentencing For Roofing Scam

SANFORD — A 65-year-old convicted con artist has been hospitalized after complaining of chest pains at the Seminole County jail.

Richard W. Walker told a jail nurse he was ill Wednesday night, several hours after being sentenced to 2 years in prison for a roof-coating scam.

Walker, who was found guilty of bilking people of more than $50,000, was being treated in the cardiac unit of Florida Hospital Altamonte.

The results of an electrocardiogram examination Wednesday night were ''inconclusive'' on whether the Casselberry man suffered a heart attack, said his lawyer, David Evans. Walker will remain at the hospital a few days for additional tests.

Seminole Assistant State Attorney Beth Rutberg said she believes Walker may have faked the attack to avoid prison and that only a doctor's report could convince her otherwise.

Walker said during his sentencing Wednesday morning that he was taking medication for a bad heart, emphysema, arthritis, skin cancer and a bladder problem for which he had surgery in June.

He was taken to the hospital by ambulance about 7:30 p.m., soon after complaining that he was having chest pains, Evans said. Sheriff's Capt. Roy Hughey said that a jail nurse decided to send Walker to the hospital after she examined him briefly in his cell.

Evans said he talked with the nurse Thursday. ''She told me that in her medical opinion he didn't appear to be faking the ailments,'' Evans said.

Rutberg said, however, that while she is ''sorry that the man is in poor health and I sympathize with him if he actually is suffering from a heart attack, I'm not swayed by this latest ploy.''

''He is a thief and until he was caught he had an easy and smooth life,'' Rutberg said. ''He has no credibility and he's using every last thing he's got to get out of going to jail.''

An emergency hearing tentatively has been set for today to determine whether Walker should be released on bail or his own recognizance while he appeals his grand theft convictions, Evans said. He said he will ask that doctors be allowed to testify whether Walker had chest pains or a heart attack.

Walker was found guilty in June of five counts of grand theft. Authorities said he made false promises of high profits to the victims, who paid $3,989 to $16,990 for the rights to sell and apply a roof coating for mobile homes.